MalarifA Collection of Worlds2018-11-04T17:51:01http://neonnightmare.com/thehosts/feed.php?f=282018-11-04T17:51:012018-11-04T17:51:01http://neonnightmare.com/thehosts/viewtopic.php?t=144&p=3461#p3461Today it was a treat, he knew it. He could smell the little shit and could hear it moving around, travelling through his city like a rat. He'd been following it all day, nose to the ground, ears flicked back in irritation, but every time he started to get close to it it was gone.

He was on the verge of giving up in a rage when he turned a corner and there it was, standing looking at him, an affront to his control over the world he had created. It was greyish with bright pink underbelly, hair and inside its ears and it had the most smug little grin he'd ever seen on one of the vermin. He bared his fangs with a hiss and leapt forward, just as it also turned tail and ran, scooting into one of the alleyways.

He snapped into action, charging after it. "Not this time you don't you little shit." he snarled, his hooves scrabbling on the concrete. "You are going to regret coming into my home, into my lands. I'll make you hurt in ways.." he swung around a corner after it. "..ways I haven't even THOUGHT UP YET."

]]>2018-11-04T15:07:562018-11-04T15:07:56http://neonnightmare.com/thehosts/viewtopic.php?t=143&p=3460#p3460At lunch he'd often find a classroom to spend his time in, normally permitted some degree of sanctuary in one of the music rooms, where he'd play the piano. He didn't bring or eat a lunch most of the time, willing to sacrifice that would have been spent eating for other purposes.

Between classes though there was no real escape and as he went he could feel the pent up rage flowing through his system, a vicious anger that never relented whenever he felt hunted. How dare they hunt him, how dare they? He could kill them, he knew. He could kill them all with his bare hands if need be, though he'd never be unarmed, and yet doing so would bring the weight of consequence down upon him. It wasn't fair. His life was difficult and stressful because of stupid, stupid people. People who were inferior and moronic, whose abscence would never be missed. And yet he could do nothing about it.

"Larry." someone said in a sing-song voice behind him. He didn't turn around, just set his mouth into a thin line. "Larryy."

He resisted as long as he could before turning to look behind him. "What?" he said sharply.

"My friend wants to go out with you Larry." said the boy with a cruel smirk, pointing to a female friend who got flustered and upset saying "No I don't, ew!"

He gave both of them a flat look before continuing on his way. He just wanted to be left alone. Just wanted to do what he needed to do and go home, but it was every single day, every day in life. It wasn't just one person either, that would be something he could address. Instead it was everyone, so many of his peers, they either joined in or fearfully stood back and let it happen.

He hated all of them, hated them all in a deep dark black and bitter sort of way. He was patient and he tolerated it.

]]>2018-11-04T14:31:322018-11-04T14:31:32http://neonnightmare.com/thehosts/viewtopic.php?t=142&p=3459#p3459He wanted to write music, new music, different from the kind he'd been writing for so long already, the kind of music that spoke of something important, that wrapped around the strange new perspective of the one he'd met and carved out his delicate shape in music.

For the first time he didn't want to kill someone, for the first time he felt like desecrating this new friend would be crude and wrong. It filled him with disgust, and that feeling too was something new and vibrant. He'd not felt disgust in a long time, and certainly not to this degree about harming others. It was liberating, a new lease of life in a very very long lifespan. He wasn't sure what he was going to do, he wasn't sure what it all meant but for the first time in a long time, he felt inspired and that was something really important to him.

The only way to answer what it meant was to spend more time with Rodney.

]]>2018-11-04T03:05:002018-11-04T03:05:00http://neonnightmare.com/thehosts/viewtopic.php?t=141&p=3454#p3454The steps were stone, making patterns in dark and light arrangements, and began to go down a mossy path. Birds stirred in old trees, and cool air rose from the bottom of the steps.

]]>2018-11-04T02:54:452018-11-04T02:54:45http://neonnightmare.com/thehosts/viewtopic.php?t=141&p=3453#p3453more." he said, with a slight smile. "And that's fine with me."

The physical contact was surprising, still not sure what to do with someone or something who wasn't at all afraid of him, finding himself maybe a little bit nervous about the concept in general. What did you do when you weren't being vicious or hurtful? He was flying blind if he was honest.

"Yes though." he said. "I love piano. I could certainly play for you. I'm not sure if you'd like it much, I'm told its a little bit sad." And he'd been angry about that, so angry, the other stygian telling him that his music sounded sad and yearning. He'd been mostly angry that they could /tell/ and he could not. How could music be sad or yearning? It was just music. Just sounds. Sounds didn't feel.

]]>2018-11-04T02:48:382018-11-04T02:48:38http://neonnightmare.com/thehosts/viewtopic.php?t=141&p=3452#p3452"A piano. Oh, it makes sense. That you'd be an artist. I'd love to listen, sometime. A composition isn't too different from a garden."

]]>2018-11-04T02:27:072018-11-04T02:27:07http://neonnightmare.com/thehosts/viewtopic.php?t=141&p=3449#p3449"I like music too." he said. "I play. Piano mostly. I'm not sure why, it doesn't really do a great deal for dreamers. It's just for me."

He looked a little perturbed at the idea of being a place. "I hope not." he said. "The idea of always being alone, always being apart. I wouldn't be so dramatic as to say it was beyond tolerating. But it is very sad."

]]>2018-11-04T02:19:412018-11-04T02:19:41http://neonnightmare.com/thehosts/viewtopic.php?t=141&p=3448#p3448Lawrence's hoof stayed in his as they walked, and the sleeve of Rodney's robe fell over both of them, covering the contact, as if it were secret.

"Sometimes I think...we, ourselves, are almost places, more than living creatures. It's why...so many wander in and out of our reach. They can't stay. And a place...is always alone, in that way."

]]>2018-11-04T02:06:402018-11-04T02:06:40http://neonnightmare.com/thehosts/viewtopic.php?t=141&p=3447#p3447"You know." he said. "I'd never even considered that aspect, that something cared for them I mean. To me, it had always connoted that someone had a plan and they were part of it, that they'd looked at nature and said they knew better, that they could organise it to greater satisfaction." he looked thoughtful.

"The feelings of the plants never really occurred to me. I suppose, if you were a plant, it would be a reassuring thought."

He wasn't a plant, and the world he lived in felt unmistakably chaotic. He was the only gardener of reality that he knew and he didn't think he did it because he cared.

]]>2018-11-04T01:32:382018-11-04T01:32:38http://neonnightmare.com/thehosts/viewtopic.php?t=141&p=3444#p3444"There are many kinds," Rodney said, "this one seems very old. I'm hoping there's an herb patch, but I'd like to see how far the path goes. Even though parts seem overgrown, the path itself seems well-cared for. I...like that about them, too. That someone's...cared for them."

]]>2018-11-04T01:01:322018-11-04T01:01:32http://neonnightmare.com/thehosts/viewtopic.php?t=141&p=3441#p3441"How about a little bit of both?" he said. "We can go explore the garden and then we can rest in the shade together. I'd like to spend some time with you, if that is all right. I certainly don't have anywhere specific to be."

He batted Rodney amicably with his tail.

"I'm very fond of gardens. They are so organised, everything all laid out in a way that can be best appreciated."

]]>2018-11-03T20:28:132018-11-03T20:28:13http://neonnightmare.com/thehosts/viewtopic.php?t=141&p=3432#p3432"I don't like being alone." he said. "I'm a people person." And his smile was a little more toothy than he meant.

He curled his tail. "And most of the stygian I've ever met, they didn't stay long."

]]>2018-11-03T14:13:492018-11-03T14:13:49http://neonnightmare.com/thehosts/viewtopic.php?t=141&p=3431#p3431He could identify many of the world's species, those rooted in the World were the easiest, but the ones conjured from imaginations spread through the dreamscape like grains of sleeping sand.

He lay a gentle hand on the bark, letting his mind wander to the dreams that had shaped this place.

" Have you been here before?" He asked Lawrence, "This garden's new to me."